US stocks rallied yesterday after US President Donald Trump decided to delay tariffs on car imports by up to six months.

Sentiment was earlier hurt by a clutch of weak economic data from the United States and China that sparked worries of slowing global growth.

At 10.21 in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 68.16 points, or 0.27pc, at 25,463.89, the S&P 500 was down 2.12 points and the Nasdaq Composite was up 18.00 points.

Closer to home, Italian shares led losses in Europe after the country's deputy prime minister said Rome was ready to break EU fiscal rules, masking early gains fuelled by optimism around US-China trade rhetoric. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.1pc by 09.10 GMT weighed down by a 0.7pc drop in the bank-heavy Italian index.

In Dublin, the Iseq was weaker though it recovered through the session.

Irish stocks were mixed, with Ryanair, Dalata and Aryzta among decliners and housebuilders Abbey and CPL among the gainers.

The latest data showing the eurozone economy accelerated sequentially in the first quarter of 2019, helped by a rebound in the biggest economy Germany, failed to lift investors' spirits.

The mood in Europe was soured after Matteo Salvini's comments raised concerns about Italy's high spending, taking a hit on Italian banks.

"It's not the first time the Italians have pushed the boundaries with EU fiscal rules, it is just this time his rhetoric has come at a time when the markets are probably more sensitive to this commentary than normal," said John Woolfitt at Atlantic Markets.

The European banks lost 0.3pc, also weighed down by some disappointing earnings. Irish banks were flat. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and Dutch bank ABN Amro both missed profit expectations. French bank Credit Agricole's first-quarter net profits dropped after two one-off events offset gains in profitability at some of its businesses.

Bucking the trend was UK bank CYBG - led by former AIB CEO David Duffy, which rose 4pc after posting a first-half profit.